Teachers must keep their private and public lives separate online to protect their reputations, warn experts.
They say school staff who use social networking sites must never “befriend” their pupils and should avoid being tagged in photos.
David Wright, of the UK Safer Internet Centre, said 35 per cent of teachers have been bullied on the net and told them to seek help if they are affected.
He spoke as the Association of Teachers and Lecturers issued new guidance for staff who use the sites — saying they should only contact pupils online for strictly professional purposes and with their school’s full knowledge.
Mr Wright said: “We need to keep our private and professional lives apart. Manage them separately.” He said one school recently expelled two boys after they found a compromising photograph of their head teacher online and posted it in a public forum.
They did it by setting up a fake Facebook account using a photograph of another teacher at the school and “befriending” the head, which gave them access to his photos.
Mr Wright said teachers should tell friends before a night out that they do not want their photo taken.
To illustrate youngsters’ online proficiency, he told of a 10-year-old boy who had no broadband at home — so made an aerial out of a Pringles tin and accessed the internet using the broadband of a house three doors away.
The new ATL guidance warns teachers not to joke with students on social networks. It states: “Humour is relative. A few light-hearted comments and images about colleagues or students may not be perceived as such.”
